Back to the Future Part II (1989)

After visiting 2015, Marty McFly must repeat his visit to 1955 to prevent disastrous changes to 1985... without interfering with his first trip.

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writers:

Robert Zemeckis (characters), Bob Gale (characters),

Stars:

Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael J. Fox	...	Marty McFly / Marty McFly Jr / Marlene McFly
Christopher Lloyd	...	Doctor Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson	...	Lorraine
Thomas F. Wilson	...	Biff Tannen / Griff
Elisabeth Shue	...	Jennifer
James Tolkan	...	Strickland
Jeffrey Weissman	...	George McFly
Casey Siemaszko	...	3-D
Billy Zane	...	Match
J.J. Cohen	...	Skinhead
Charles Fleischer	...	Terry
E. Casanova Evans	...	'Michael Jackson' Video Waiter
Jay Koch	...	'Ronald Reagan' Video Waiter
Charles Gherardi	...	'Ayatollah Khomeini' Video Waiter
Ricky Dean Logan	...	Data

Storyline

Marty McFly has only just gotten back from the past, when he is once again picked up by Dr. Emmett Brown and sent through time to the future. Marty's job in the future is to pose as his own son to prevent him from being thrown in prison. Unfortunately, things get worse when the future changes the present.

---

Plot Keywords:

future | time machine | second part | cafe | blockbuster | 

---

Taglines:

Do You Remember... The Future?

---

Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Back to the Future...The Website Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Volver al futuro II

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Park, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$118,500,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, U-Drive Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The biggest effect of the picture is the vista glide. There are three scenes that use the effect of the same actor interacting with themselves. The three scenes that were shot was the dinner sequence in 2015, 1955 Biff talking to 2015 Biff in the garage and 1955 Doc talking with 1985 Doc. In order to create the dinner sequence with the vista glide, the camera had to be divided into thirds and Michael had to come in three different times to play his older self, Marty Jr. and his daughter Marlene. Back to the Future Part II is the first film to accomplish interaction between the same actor on the screen twice as two different characters. If you watch closely, you'll see that old Biff's hand disappears during the scene in the garage.

---

Goofs

When the first Marty (from Back to the Future) is waving to George McFly while playing "Earth Angel", you can still hear the electric guitar, even though he isn't playing it.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Young Jennifer: How 'bout a ride, mister?
Marty McFly: Jennifer! Oh, man, are you a sight for sore eyes; let me look at you.
Young Jennifer: Marty, you're acting like you haven't seen me in a week.
Marty McFly: I haven't.

---

Crazy Credits

The DVD version (Regions 1 and 2) has "To Be Concluded" followed by the teaser for Part III just before the start of the credits.

---

Connections

Edited into The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy (1990)

---

Soundtracks

"Mr. Sandman"
Written by Pat Ballard
Performed by The Four Aces
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

The best sequel ever made

Continuing a movie as perfect as "Back To The Future" must have been a really tough job. What made it even harder was that the writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had to ignore an important character from part one. Because Crispin Glover asked for too much money, his character George McFly, Marty's wacky Dad, hardly appears in the sequels, which constricted the storyline a lot beforehand.

Still, "Back To The Future II" turned out to be a huge success, commercially and artistically. The movie is every bit as clever and delightful as part one. I think most viewers don't realize how extremely complex this story is, because it's so enjoyable to watch. Gale & Zemeckis wrote a screenplay that takes place in three different periods of time, changes storyline more than once, has characters interacting with themselves all the time, but never seems overdone or confusing. The most original trick the two Bobs pulled was to virtually return to part one and have the main character interfere with the original storyline. I don't think that has ever been done before or since.

No, the movie isn't flawless in a sense that everything can be explained logically. Bob Gale admitted himself that Marty and Doc shouldn't be able to visit their future selves in the first place. There are a lot of impossible time travels in part two (you can read about them in detail here: http://mjyoung.net/time/back2.html). "Mistakes" like that don't take away any of the fun, though, and I still think that the "Back To The Future" trilogy incorporates the logics of time traveling better than any other movie ever did.

Besides the perfect script the trilogy's success is due to Zemeckis ever so beautiful direction and his eye for detail, and of course the great cast. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson, all shamelessly underrated actors, are once again brilliant. It's a REAL pity that Crispin Glover didn't return for the sequels, but as I've said before, Gale & Zemeckis did a great job writing their way around his memorable character. The only other actress that didn't come back was Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in part one and was appropriately replaced by Elisabeth Shue here.

Summing up, "Back To The Future II" is a more than worthy follow-up to one of the best movies of all time. In fact, I think it's the best sequel ever made, only rivaled by "Terminator 2: Judgement Day". But that's a different story...